Tips for Athletes and Fighters to Gain Followers on Instagram
Tips for Athletes and Fighters to Gain More Exposure on Instagram
You can grow your followers on Instagram in a number of ways.
Everyone wants to gain followers on Instagram, the platform of choice for hip young things as more people leave Facebook to their parents and Twitter to those who would rather get into a rage about the latest political developments. But, if you're an athlete or a martial arts fighter, how do you gain more exposure on this particular social media platform?
In this post, we're going to show how we at Warrior Collective go about getting more followers on Instagram so your posts get lots more attention and you stand out as a true athlete or someone interested in martial arts training.
Be Yourself
Instagram — and much of social media — is full of people trying to make out they're something they're not, or at least that their lives are so totally better than anyone else's. There's a lot of fakery out there, with contrived poses, outrageous boasting and claims that users are living the high life when actually they're more than likely just like everyone else and may even be trying to overcompensate because they're down in the dumps. It's no wonder there's a lot of pressure to keep up.
But the key to gaining more followers is not trying to show yourself off as some global jet setter or mega-rich individual who has the perfect lifestyle but to be who you actually are. So post about ordinary and even mundane things, instead of wild and brash boasts about how brilliant you are. You're much more likely to be relatable to those who are already following you and future followers.
Offer Tips
Some of the most successful fitness and workout accounts on social media are those that offer unique tips to their followers. After all, people invest a lot of time and money in their phones, internet connection and time spent on sites and apps — and they just love to get something for free, including advice they can use.
You can do a daily tips post, or a weekly one, if this is too much, giving simple advice about how people can get in shape, start on a programme of martial arts training or anything else. Use appropriate hashtags to group the posts and ensure those interested see them. Our tip is to research your hashtags before using them, instead of making ones up that may not get much — if any — attention.
Stay Public
Some people set their Instagram account to private, perhaps because they don't want others, like friends or family, seeing what they're up to on social media. But if you want to increase your followers, it's a mistake, as people won't be able to find you, or will have to request to follow you, and not everyone wants to do that. Plus, if followers forward your posts to their followers, they won’t be able to immediately view them.
You don't have to worry about revealing every aspect of your private life on Instagram — or, indeed, lots of skin, as many people do — when you can keep your account professional and stick to topics concerning athletics and martial arts training.
Engage People
As well as posting regularly — at least every day or, at most, every couple of days — as no one likes an account that seems dormant, it's important to engage your audience. You can do this by simply asking a question at the end of a post — something like: "What's your favourite part of martial arts training?" or "What are you doing to reach your athletic goals this year?"
You'll be surprised at how many people love to answer posts on Instagram. As people become more familiar with your account, you'll build up an audience that becomes engaged and loyal, thereby helping to increase your followers, as they forward more posts, and also spread your message.
Reach out and Connect
Within every niche on social media, you will find pages solely dedicated to promoting them to their own established community. If you are a martial artist or aspiring young athlete wanting to get eyes on your profile, research the relevant hash tags for your sport/activity and then follow the top accounts that come up where you can see them actively sharing videos/images of your particular discipline.
Once you are following these, engage with them by making positive comments on their posts. Once they start to engage and reply, try to strike up brief conversations about their posts. After a few of these interactions, reach out to them via direct message and see if they will share any of your training videos or images. Make sure these are of a good enough quality and fall in line with the style that the page regularly puts out to up your chances of their sharing (these type of pages are always on the lookout for great content to share with their own audience).
If you're interested in martial arts training, Warrior Collective has world-renowned coaches who can help to take your training to a whole new level. Contact us now and find out more about martial arts and how you can benefit from our unique training programmes.